Lessons in Rebellion and Reinvention
Laura Cumming, The Observer
March 2019
A startling painting in this terrific survey of the American artist Dorothea Tanning (1910-2012) shows dinner time in some conventional midwestern home. The paterfamilias, with blinding spectacles and a hideous orange tie, towers above the proceedings. His daughter is much smaller; tinier still is a cook bearing a dish, who is not much bigger than the family dog. Each is portrayed according to their power. The daughter shoots us an urgent glance: home life really is as bad as it looks. […]